The New York Giants drafted their next franchise quarterback this offseason. With the 6th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected Daniel Jones.
Daniel Jones was a highly controversial draft pick. Many critics claimed that New York drafted the Duke quarterback simply because he reminded them of Eli Manning. While this may be true, it is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Daniel Jones being the next Eli Manning is actually a good thing.
Perfect Media Personality
Throughout his 16 year career, Eli Manning has been a perfect media personality. Manning has always been respectful towards media personalities and has always handled every situation and question with class.
Take his 2017 benching for example. Manning was informed of the Giants’ baffling decision to bench the veteran quarterback, then went on to power through those tough locker-room interviews in a respectful manner, despite being visibly upset.
https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/935617367727538176
Since joining the New York Giants, Daniel Jones has been very similar to Eli Manning while speaking to the media. He has given boring, relaxed responses that do their best to eliminate unnecessary attention, just like Eli Manning.
https://twitter.com/Giants/status/1133470497935568896
Talented Enough To Win The Big Games
Daniel Jones might not have been the “best prospect” in the 2019 draft class, but he was still worthy of a 1st-round pick. Critics could make a fair argument that Jones was not worthy of a top ten pick, but the Giants felt like they could not risk losing him to another team.
Eli Manning will always be remembered for his two heroic Super Bowl victories. His regular season career has not been elite. Eli has had multiple seasons that were plain bad, including three seasons in which he led the league in interceptions.
Despite this, Manning is still a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback, thanks to those two rings. All Eli needed was two spectacular seasons and shocking runs to cement himself into NFL history. Daniel Jones is a talented quarterback capable of putting together a couple of excellent seasons.
Daniel Jones demonstrated his ability to perform in big games in Duke’s 2018 bowl game. Duke played Temple that game and Daniel Jones completely lit it up. He threw 41 passes and completed 30 of them (73.2% completion rate) for 423 yards and 5 touchdowns.
In Duke’s most important game of the season, Daniel Jones rose to the occasion. This is exactly what the Giants need. New York needs Daniel Jones to rise to the occasion, similar to the way that Eli Manning did in 2007 and 2011. If Daniel Jones really is an Eli Manning clone, the Giants will be lucky to have him.